BBC app billed as modern equivalent of getting creative with 'loo roll and a paint brush'

Sherna Noah

The BBC has launched a children's app billed as the modern equivalent of getting creative with "loo roll and a paint brush" - as it faces competition from YouTube and Snapchat.

Children's TV show Blue Peter was famous for getting young viewers to make objects out of household items like toilet roll and cereal boxes in its heyday.

The BBC announced last month it would be launching a children's app, but revealed few details.

Now Alice Webb, director of BBC Children's, has said CBBC Buzz would "reinvent" children's content for "a new generation".

"We're bringing our audiences together like we've always done, from the Broom Cupboard to challenges on Blue Peter, but for the digital age," she said.

"We're equipping them with the modern versions of a loo roll and a paint brush and encouraging them all to get creative. And we're doing it in a safe space that children and parents can have total confidence in."

Children using the community app, for under 13s, can swipe through a feed of short videos, GIFs, quizzes and memes based on the shows and topics they enjoy.

They can also share their own ideas with a parent's permission.

Users can react to content with expressive emojis "but there are no 'thumbs down' or ways to send nasty comments or messages", the BBC said.

A team of moderators will approve or decline all user-generated content.